Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail

• Hawaiians are often said to have been the first Pacific Islanders to have undertaken nearshore aquaculture on a truly large scale. Many, if not most, natural embayments were enclosed with rock walls and utilized to raise ʻamaʻama (mullet), awa (milkfish) and other nearshore schooling fishes. Time, tsunamis and neglect have disintegrated many of these fishpond walls, but at Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park it is possible to see a restored, massive wall and imagine the pulse of the productive community that once lived here. Two enormous fishponds and a fish trap remain. Petroglyphs depicting the rhythms of daily life—birth, death, travel, fishing, sailing—are found throughout the park.

Wetland birds such as the aeʻo (Hawaiian stilt) and the ʻaukuʻu (black-crowned night heron) forage and breed in the calm, flooded areas inside the fishpond walls, and the park offers sanctuary and forage for migrating shorebirds such as ʻakekeke (ruddy turnstone) and kōlea (Pacific golden plover). Basking honu (Hawaiian green sea turtles), resting on the hot sand, delight and fascinate. Federal law protects them from harassment, in and out of the water.